The County of San Diego North Coastal Live Well Health Center has won a National Award of Merit in the Civic/Assembly category from the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). As a result of this honor, the project is automatically a nominee for the National Award of Excellence in the Civic/Assembly category, the highest honor within each category.

Under the leadership of the County of San Diego and Balfour Beatty, HMC Architects designed the three-story 36,000 square-foot facility that highlights surrounding natural resources with the ability to expand based on the needs of the community. The building features inviting sunlight, natural ventilation, and welcoming landscaping. Powered entirely by the sun and using no fossil fuels, the facility has achieved LEED Platinum Certification and is the only project targeting Zero Net Energy (ZNE) in California that is a County-owned medical office. The center promotes wellness, self-sufficiency, and a better quality of life for County of San Diego residents. It houses the county’s aging and independence services, a military and veterans resource center, community health promotions, regional administration, public health services, and behavioral health services.

“From huge multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects to a small community animal shelter, the incredible diversity in this year’s national design-build winners shows very clearly how design-build is changing the way America builds. The power of collaboration has energized our industry and delivered impressive innovation, resiliency and value to the communities these projects serve. DBIA is proud to honor this year’s national design-build project and team winners. They are truly the best of the best and leading the way by designing and building some of the nation’s most remarkable projects,” said Lisa Washington, CAE, DBIA Executive Director/CEO.

DBIA’s 2019 award-winning projects were evaluated by a distinguished panel of experts in design-build project delivery. Merit and category excellence winners will be announced at the Design-Build Conference & Expo on November 7th in Las Vegas, Nevada. A full list of project winners, including photos and descriptions of each project can be found online at DBIA’s Project/Team Awards page.